


400 Lux

by cherryboris



Category: The Goldfinch (2019), The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
Genre: Fluff, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Underage Drinking, the three of them together is more platonic... unless, they're drunk and annoying the hell out of kotku, vegas chapters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:40:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22810378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherryboris/pseuds/cherryboris
Summary: An orange juice commercial sends the three on a late night adventure.
Relationships: Theodore Decker & Boris Pavlikovsky & Kotku, Theodore Decker/Boris Pavlikovsky
Comments: 4
Kudos: 43





	400 Lux

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr @cherryboris

Boris laid on his side, rubbing Popchyk’s stomach, “Who’s a good boy? Who's a good boy? You’re my good boy. милый маленький мальчик.”

Theo rolled over to him, moving his attention from the cartoons Kotku had put on to Boris. “Is it me?”

Kotku raised her eyebrows, shaking her head, trying to ignore them and turning the sound up louder on the television. "Will you two please be quiet? You wanted me to put on the TV so I put on the goddamn TV and now you're shouting and no one can hear it!"

Boris shoved Theo. "She's talking to you!" he said with a serious face, that immediately broke when Kotku turned her head. 

The two boys had spent a majority of the night drinking beers, ending with them on the living room carpet holding hands and talking over one another with stories. They both had a strong buzz, Theo even feeling a little queasy, but their words were perfectly clear - things were just a lot looser. 

A commercial came on the screen, Florida oranges being made into orange juice. They looked to each other, Boris' usually sunken eyes wide with excitement. 

"Orange juice! You can take us,  _ please? _ " He smiled, nodding a bit as he spoke. 

"No. Absolutely not!" Kotku replied, waving him away with her hand: "You both have been drinking all night! You do not need orange juice."

"Oh come on, please take us?" Theo asked, "There's a store not that far away! You just get on the highway and boom we get orange juice!" He nodded, like it was the best plan he had come up with, turning to Boris with a big smile, happy to see him in complete agreement. 

"Why don't I just go to the store and bring it back?" She tried to compromise, but they both shook their heads. "Why not?"

"We need to pick it out!" 

She sighed loudly, getting up from the couch and turning the TV off, fine if we're going let's go."

They scrambled to the front door, Boris holding Popchyk tight in his arms.

Kotku looked to him, sighing, "what are you doing with the dog?"

"He has a name and he's coming with us!" Boris said, not bothering to hear any of her arguments before opening the passenger seat and setting Popper on the front seat. He followed Theo into the back of the car, leaning close to him. 

Theo rested his head on Boris' shoulder as Kotku turned on the radio and put the windows down. The warm summer night had really made it nice for a drive whether she wanted to admit it or not. 

The glowing haze of the store sign lit up the empty parking lot, the only other car was the employees. 

"Stay in the car with Popper - We'll be right back," Theo told Kotku as Boris pulled him by the arm out of the car. 

"Come on, Potter, let's go!"

The two were absolute messes in the store, and Theo was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. Boris put a hat on Theo and sunglasses on himself. “You look stupid!” He scrunched up his nose, pushing the glasses up into his mopish hair. “Stupid and kissable.”

Theo shoved him, “You’re an asshole,” he said as seriously as he could, but he was quickly laughing again, leaning forward into Boris’ chest, the rim of the hat digging into his collarbone. 

“Orange juice!” Boris shouted like a quick realization, pulling him to the cooler and grabbing one carton of orange juice. “We share, yes?”

Theo nodded, walking to the cashier with him, grabbing a bag of hot cheetos from the shelf. “For the car ride.”

Boris paid, pulling the hat off of theo and purchasing it with the sunglasses for no reason other than he looked cute. 

They went back out to the car where Kotku sat holding Popper in her lap, cooing over him. She looked up when the car door opened and the two boys shuffled inside. “Please tell me you did not just buy a carton! Are you kidding me Boris! You’re in my car.” She turned to the backseat to see him holding the carton up and drinking from it before passing it to Theo. 

Theo set it down, putting the lid back on it and then curled into Boris’ side. 

“Can we go home now?” 

Boris gently brushed Theo’s hair from his eyes. “Can you drive us around?”

She sighed softly, but nodded. “Yes, but if you start screaming I'm taking both of your asses home.” She pulled onto the highway, the lights of the city in the distance. It was nice not living close to it. 

Boris heaves a breath, shoving his head basically out the car window and he can’t remember the last time things felt so good. Theo snakes his arms around Boris’ waist, not listening to Kotku’s pleas to them to sit down. He held him tight, kissing the back of his neck, laughing loudly. 

He felt lucky, for once, to not feel like anyone’s eyes were on them, that the only person who was there was Kotku and she had no room to judge them.

Boris leaned back into the car, hair going in every direction. “I want a milkshake!” he said, like it was the best idea he had ever heard.

Kotku shook her head, “absolutely not! you just got orange juice.” She was seconds away from turning around and smacking him.  _ Of course, they couldn’t enjoy any drive without Boris needing something every five seconds.  _

Boris pouted a little bit, “please? Is going to taste  _ so _ good, right Potter?” 

She rolled her eyes, patting Popper in the passenger seat, “your dads are going to drive me crazy.” She laughed to herself softly, nonetheless, driving them to in-n-out to get him a milkshake. 

“What flavor do you w

ant then?” she asked, waving her hand into the backseat for money. 

“chocolate strawberry - together and make sure there’s whipped cream on it! Thank you, seriously owe you one!”” 

she pulled up to the window, ordering it and asking for whipped cream just to make sure he got what he wanted. 

“Uh- we’re actually out of whipped cream right now.” The voice came the speaker was slightly distorted, but was still enough to make Boris dramatically sigh into Theo’s shoulder. 

“Should go back to convenience store and get a bottle and just eat it out of the can!”

Theo furrowed his eyebrows, “eat it out of the can?”

Boris nodded quickly, seeming a little thrown off that Theo didn’t know what he was talking about. Even Kotku had turned around to look at him, “Y’know like-” he mimicked the sound the can made. 

“Yes I know what you’re talking about, but i’ve never eaten it out of the can?” 

“You’re not living then! Is the best thing  _ ever!”  _ Boris said, leaning in close to Theo, who pushed him away, used to Boris’ over dramatic tendencies. 

Kotku, for once that night, agreed that they had to go somewhere- back to the convenience store to get a can of reddi whip for them to share. She handed boris’ milkshake back to him, having gotten an extra straw for Theo, just in case. 

Boris offered some to Theo, before taking the lid off and holding the milkshake to Popchyk, who licked the top of it. 

“Boris! no- dogs can’t have chocolate!”

“It’s just the strawberry part, he deserves it,” Boris said. He leaned forward rubbing his ears gently. “my good boy.”

Theo rolled his eyes, trying to not pay too much attention to what he was seeing. “I can’t believe you’re going to drink that after his tongue has been in it.”

Koktu swatted Boris back into the backseat: “Don’t encourage the dog, Boris, he was being good and sitting and now look what you did.” Popchyk stood on the console in the front seat, barking at the small amount of commotion before Boris quickly pulled him back into his lap. 

“Shush, no worries. Just drive.”

It didn’t take long for them to get back to the convenience store. Boris gently set Popper back in the front seat with Koktu, before sliding out of the car. Theo’s grip on him was hard as he stumbled out of the car when Boris caught him. He smiled widely, looking at Theo, gently patting his shoulders. “good now?”

Theo nodded, brushing Boris’ hands off, “Yeah, yeah. Let’s just get it and go.” 

Boris shook his head, raising an eyebrow, “What? No longer having fun, Potter?”

The two walked inside, directly to the small, buzzing cooler. The entire store had a nauseating feeling to it, making Theo, who made a habit of looking too deeply into everything, uncomfortable. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” He tugged on Boris’ sleeve as he looked between three different cans - each with a different brightly colored label. 

“Which one should we get?” Boris asked, “No difference in price for these two - and this is more expensive but has more.” He held the cans out to Theo, who picked the blue can, not even bothering to look at any differences between them - they were all whipped cream. 

Boris paid, laughing loudly as the clerk remarked about how it was their second time in there. Once out of the shop Boris sat down on a parking block, patting a spot beside him. Kotku leaned forward, rolling down the window, Boris' echoing laughter breaking the peace of the radio on low. 

"What are you two doing?" She asked, resting her elbow on the ledge. 

"Not getting it in your car- happy, yes?" 

She rolled her eyes, watching as Boris pushed the can into Theo's hands after taking the pull tab off and throwing it into the empty lot. Theo tipped his head back, setting the nozzle between his front teeth and pushing down until it came out. 

Boris’ hands wrapped around the can only seconds later, pulling it to his own mouth. “Theo, see I told you, is fun!” he rubbed his finger back and forth over the nozzle, “besides you can do this!” He sprayed the can on Theo’s nose, who shoved him hard in response. 

“Fuck off!” He pouted, only able to keep it up for a few seconds before he was laughing hard and wiping his nose with the back of his hand. “I think you have some on your face.”

Theo leaned in close, tracing his fingertips across Boris' lips, "Here." He kissed him softly, feeling as Boris wrapped his arms around his waist. 

He felt weightless as he was pulled from the cement into Boris' lap and he could've stayed like that forever. 

"Come on Assholes, we should be getting back!" Kotku rolled her eyes, honking the horn of the car until they got back in the car, the can left rolling through the parking lot. 

Theo settled into the car with him, closing his eyes as Boris pulled Popchyk into the back seat with them and Koktu started to drive back to Theo's house.

Boris sighed contently, looking out the window at passing cars, before looking down at his lap where Theo’s head laid. He noticed that he was snoring quietly, and without an intention to wake him, he slowly brushed his hair back with his fingers. Things were okay like this - it was the best night they had had in awhile, and they  _ completely  _ deserved it.


End file.
